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A series of laptop breakdowns and fatigue from weeks of hard fishing prevented me from putting a blog up lately. Most of my fishing was on Corrib but I also had a couple of days on Mask and Carra (more on those next week!). There were some great hatches of mayfly this year and at certain times there were decent numbers of fish feeding on them providing some great dry fly action. Being on the water most days and concentrating on specific areas allowed me to learn the feeding habits of the trout in those spots. It paid to have 2 rods set up; one with drys and one with wets because the periods of surface activity were always brief. Thankfully though these happened a few times on most of my days on the water. Hesitating for even a couple of minutes to change to the dry fly rod could (and did) result in missed opportunities. The wets accounted for many fish during the times when fish were not visible on the top… as they should! The best thing about this Mayfly was the average size of the trout and how willing they were to take a well presented dryfly when covered. I had more fish between 3 and 4lbs than fish from 1 to 2lbs and that’s something I never expected to be able to say about Irish wild trout fishing!

Here are the highlights from Corrib.. I believe they speak for themselves!

Ronan..

Dad with a superbly marked and conditioned fish of about 5lbs. It nailed a wet mayfly and took off like a train!

It was yet another big weekend on Corrib starting at 5am on Friday morning. We first targeted pike to no avail, then John went to work and I focused on trout. The mayfly is up early this year and thankfully the trout are responding to them. For the first time this year I really want to be trout fishing. Gales, thunder, rain and squalls made the going tough all weekend. I met about 12 or 15 trout on Friday but only landed 2. They were good fish though, the best was around 3lbs. I hooked another of about 4lbs on the middle fly (a long shanked invicta) which quickly broke at the knot, then foul hooked him on the tail fly which also broke at the knot! Bad leader i fear. There were not huge numbers of trout showing but there were enough to keep me interested and focused.

No joy for me on Saturday but John had a great fish around the 4lb mark on a wet Green Drake. There were much fewer fish showing. I only moved a few and straightened a Royal wulff in one! Angling author Nicholas Kearns joined us and moved a few fish to the dap..

Sunday was blowing a gale so we decided to avoid the main lake and target Pike in a sheltered bay. We had 2 and lost a few more.

All in all it was a tough weekend on the water but I’m glad to say trout are finally feeding on the top.. not many but enough to fish for and they are catchable. Also, from the fish I’ve seen and heard about, the average size must be up at least 1lb.

All the best! Ronan..

Ps. If the wheels on your vehicle take 5 nuts, 4 wont do.. i nearly learned the hard way…. again!

Putting the boat in at 6am on friday morning..

One of Corribs many limestone boulders..

These clouds carried terrential rainfall!

Commitment!

A healthy Corrib Brown..

Back he goes..

A fishy looking drop off..

This trout took a dry as the wind temporarily dropped (one from the flyswap 2 years ago..)

This is the one.. thanks to the fly tier!

Day 2.. John into a great fish on the first drift..

Beautifully marked fish..

Years of erosion leaves some interesting shapes and forms in the limestone.

John and I were up at 5am, 4am and 6am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. We were expecting great things with big pike. We were both confident the larger fish would feed at first light for a few hours but it did not happen. At least not to the extent we were hoping. I lost 4 fish in the 12 -20lb bracket all weekend and john landed 2 nice pike in the heat of the midday sun on the last day. We’re still exploring and trying out new tactics. Little can be learned from doing something once so there will be more early starts and reconnaissance.

The best hit I had all weekend was when John hooked my rod during a wayward cast and sent my entire set up into the drink. It quickly sank to the bottom of a deep and dark section of a river mouth. Thankfully an ingenious dredging technique invented by John retrieved it.

I hope to be on the water from Friday to Sunday again and will report back as usual! Have a great week all..